Arthur Danziger
I was 28 years old, living in Paris, France when I developed GBS. Within 3 days, I became completely paralyzed from my feet to my eyes, intubated on a respirator. Blinking my eyes was my only physical act. Within 30 days I was free of the respirator and walking unassisted. Today, at 74 years old, I am strong, healthy, play basketball and am not limited in any way. My story is proof of the power of our minds to heal ourselves. We can heal ourselves.
The year was 1978, so hospital devices and treatments were more primitive than today. The doctors’ prognosis was for me to be on the respirator for 1 to 1.5 years. Fortunately for me, none of my family members, nor the doctors ever told me of the 1 to 1.5 year respirator prognosis.
Those first 2.5 weeks on the respirator challenged me to my core and beyond. I was so weak & fragile that my heart once stopped and I had to be revived. Another time I began hemorrhaging blood into my lungs and watched as a young doctor slit open my nose and tied blood vessels together to stop the hemorrhaging. Another time my respirator filter got clogged and I came perilously close to suffocating, unable to communicate that I was suffocating. Then one night, my pain was so great I was convinced I wouldn’t make it to morning, and internally said my goodbyes to my loved ones and my maker. I was surprised to wake up still alive, etc. etc. etc.
Then exactly eighteen days after entering the hospital the paralysis ‘miraculously’ began to recede. Within a few days, I started rehab. Within 2-3 weeks I was taken off life support and I was walking and going up and down stairs unassisted.
At my final checkup, the doctor in charge asked if I had any thoughts on how I recovered so much quicker than their 1-1.5 year respirator prognosis. I told him, “My second day in the hospital my younger brother told me that in 2-3 weeks I’d be off the respirator, that I’d be rehabbing, getting stronger every day and would recover completely, very quickly, and I BELIEVED HIM.’ It was the truth. Even though at a conscious level I questioned if I would or could ever get well, I believed my brother and my brain made me well in record time.
During those 2.5 hospital weeks, I suffered terrifying lucid nightmares every night, losing 70 lbs even while being fed 4500 calories per day. The nightmares continued for the next 4 years. I questioned if I could survive the nightly terror and lack of sleep.
Seeing psychiatrists didn’t help. I had to heal myself. So I read and studied and learned the skills I needed to heal myself and others.
Helping others became my life mission.
Today I am a life coach helping people with healing and pain relief. Please let me know if I can be of help to you.
